Microfinance and the Kipsigis of Southwest Kenya

A group of business students and their professor travel to rural Kenya to work with Free The Children (FTC), an in-situ, non-governmental organization (NGO) that is focused on generational social change through education for children. This Canadian NGO has had considerable success in meeting this original objective and now sees health care and economic development concerns as being the next barriers to expansion of its educational thrust for the local population. The business group has focused on microcredit for hardcore poor mothers (mommas) as a means to economic development, as this approach has proven successful with similar populations in other parts of the world. At the level of the momma, the charitable NGO is considering loans or grants to implement some joint liability financing. The business students have been asked to gather the data, consider the implications of their analysis and make a recommendation as to which financial structure will be more effective to the NGO's management group within Kenya. The students also have been asked to create an action plan for implementation of their recommendation that considers the broader context of the organization's overall activities in Kenya.